The Class

The Project

Project Title

no special project; we just love insects, especially honey bees

Insects To Study

honey bees, praying mantis, pseudoscorpions, mosquitoes

Project Description

I simply want my students to have this experience. I would use it with any of the grade levels and courses that I teach. From what I can see from your website, anyone would gain something from this experience. We cover insects in relation to general classification but also in relation to climate change, infectious diseases, plant reproduction, general form and function, insect behavior, etc. I also like for my students to consider relative sizes of things found in nature.

Miscellaneous

Where did you hear about Bugscope?

NSTA publication: NSTA publications Feb. 2013

Live Session Transcript

Connected on 2014-10-08 10:00:00 from Jefferson County, Alabama, United States

9:50am

Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll

Bugscope Teamhi Buggy!

Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!

Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions for us

GuestWe are so excited.

Bugscope TeamYay! Are you with the Altamont School?

Bugscope Teamthis is a fruit fly

GuestNo. We are in Louisiana

Bugscope TeamAwesome!

Bugscope Teamsee the compound eyes?

Bugscope Teamthey're a little dried, slightly collapsed

9:55am

Bugscope Teamtoward the middle of the head, and up, we see the antennae, like little pads

Bugscope Teamand the mouthparts are on the lower portion of the face

Bugscope TeamBuggy we just set it up so you can drive, until the school logs in.

Bugscope Teamif you click on the screen, the 'scope will center where you clicked

Bugscope Teamand if you click on one of the presets, on the lefthand screen, the 'scope will drive to that place on the stub

Bugscope Teamlet us know if you have any problems driving and for sure let us know as well if you have questions, about anything.

10:01am

Bugscope TeamHello Bea's Bunch!

Bugscope TeamPlease feel free to ask us questions, about anything.

Bugscope Teamnow we see the forelimbs, and a wing on the left

Bugscope Teamawesome!

Bugscope Teamwe can see the two segments of the claw, and the frilly part in between that helps the fly stick to surfaces

Bugscope Teamhoneybee face

GuestWill you show us the stinger?

Bugscope Teamthe two long things are halves of the labrum, which protects the tongue

Guestlooks like teeth?

Bugscope Teamthose are hardened chitin, and below them is the tongue, called a glossa

GuestIt looks like a serrated knife!

Bugscope Teamyes it does, exactically!

10:06am

Bugscope Teamsometimes we can see more clearly that the two sides slide, side by side, to cut better into what they're stinging

Bugscope Teamthis is a male mosquito

Bugscope Teamwe can tell, without a microscope, which ones are males

GuestIt looks like a Dr. Seuss character

Bugscope Teamstingers are modified ovipositors, and some insects use them to both sting and deliver eggs

Bugscope TeamThis, in combination with the fact that honey bee stingers are serrated, is the reason why honeybees die after stinging. Their sting gets stuck in the "stingees" tissue and when the honeybee goes to pull it out, she rips her reproductive system out of her abdomen and bleeds to death

Bugscope Teamwhen honeybees sting mammals, their stingers get stuck and cannot be pulled easily out of our thick skin

Bugscope Teambut they can sting other insects no problem

10:11am

Bugscope Teammale mosquitoes have these beautiful frilly antennae, whereas those of the females are kind of dull, in comparison

Bugscope TeamThe frills provide the mosquito with more surface area for chemoreceptors to smell better, and allow male mosquitos to better sense the wingbeats of female mosquitos

Bugscope Teammosquitoes have tiny scales on the surfaces of much of their exoskeleton, like moths and butterflies and silverfish

Bugscope Teamthe tiny scales are kind of like feathers and may have a similar function, but one of their main functions is that they help protect those insects that have them from getting caught in spiderwebs

GuestWhat happens to the other insects when they get stung?

Bugscope TeamI think likely it kills them, or most of them

Bugscope TeamDo you mean stung as in a wasp stinging other insects or biten as in a mosquito biting another insect?

Bugscope Teamwhen honeybees sting other insects it is comparable to wasp sting, which can be done repeatedly, even with mammals

Bugscope Teamtick leaning on a log

10:16am

Guestdo all ticks carry lyme disease?

Guestwasp sting

Bugscope TeamWell wasps actually frequently "sting" caterpillars. I put "sting" in " because the wasps aren't doing the stinging for defense they are actually laying their eggs in the caterpillar when they sting them

Bugscope TeamIf you've ever seen the movie Alien - it's kinda like that

Bugscope TeamThe wasp eggs sit inside of the caterpillar growing and when they are ready to pupate they burrow out of the caterpillar and cocoon on their body

Bugscope TeamSocial wasps will also sting caterpillars, which they then chew up and feed to their larvae. The social wasps are the ones you are probably most familiar with. Many of the parasitic wasps mentioned above are super tiny and easily overlooked by the casual observer

Bugscope TeamThis stinging is again not for defense, but is a bit closer to actual stinging than parasitic wasps laying eggs

Bugscope Teamticks start out with six legs and then metamorphose into adult stages, with eight legs

Bugscope TeamSome tick can transmit diseases between other animals and humans, like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Some ticks also have venomous saliva which can induce paralysis in their hosts

Bugscope TeamThis tick looks to me like is the Lone Star Tick

Bugscope Teamthe part facing us helps the tick keep this central portion of its head stuck into your skin

10:22am

Bugscope Teamat the very top of the image we see now, there's a portion of the mouthparts that rasps against your skin so it can cut into it and get blood back out

Bugscope Teamthis is the part of the hypostome -- the part that sticks beneath your skin like a hypodermic needle -- that rasps

GuestDoes that mean it is from Texas?

Bugscope TeamNope! although it could be. The lonestar tick can be found over much of the eastern half of the united states. It gets its name from a white star shaped dot on its back. And maybe whoever named it was from Texas and made the association? not sure about that part, but I suppose its possible

Bugscope Teamearlier, further down on the body, we found features like these that resemble red blood cells

10:27am

Bugscope Teamwe are always looking for red blood cells on ticks. they're usually 8 to 10 microns in diameter and may be shrunken as well.

GuestWhat is the hole?

Bugscope Teamthat very round hole was from a pin; the stinkbug had been mounted for someone's collection

10:32am

Bugscope Teamthe smaller hole was an opening of the stink gland on the stinkbug's right side

Bugscope TeamSome stink bugs emit a smell that is similar to coriander

Bugscope Teamthis is the absorbent area of the cuticle around the opening of the stink gland on the left side

Bugscope TeamLuke I am your Uncle, the stinkbug.

Bugscope Teamsee its compound eyes, on either side of its head?

Bugscope Teamstinkbugs are said to be repelled by, or at least understand the repulsion produced by, their own bad smell

Bugscope TeamI kind of enjoy the stink bug smell to be honest. It reminds me of green apple jolly ranchers...